Expert: Dean Gade - 11/13/2006

Question
i have an "agnostic" friend who likes to act like she knows everything about Christianity because she enjoys historical fiction that sometimes contains partial truth (her words, not mine) set in the 9th thru 17th centuries.  Anyway, she keeps insisting that the New Testament was written in Latin because Rome was dominant at that period in time.  I, of course, keep trying to explain to her that it was written in Greek, and that not everyone was forced to speak & read Latin back then.  Could you give me a bit more info (ammunition), or insight to this subject so I can show her her error and shut her up?

Answer
The New Testament was originally written in Greek.  I am a Bible scholar who took courses of Classical and Ancient Greek during my undergraduate days at a university and then studied Koine Greek for three years at an accredited seminary.  I read most of the New Testament, in Koine Greek, at the seminary and continue to use the Greek New Testament for preaching, teaching and answering questions via the WWW.

The best source of the origninal language NT is the "Novum Testamentum Graece" by the Nestle family.  It was first published in 1989 and is still being periodicaly revised as more pieces of ancient Greek manuscripts are discovered.
This book contains the complete NT in Greek with notations at the bottom each page about any variation of all
Greek manuscripts already found.

By the way, these variations are usually just differences in spelling, grammer or missing/added words from one or more manuscripts.  They DO NOT change any doctrine found in the NT.

Greek WAS THE DOMINANT, UNIVERSAL language around the Mediterranean at the time of Jesus birth.  Most people who were in business or involved in teaching/learning spoke the common, Koine Greek.

There was a Latin translation FROM THE GREEK used for centuries by the Roman Catholic Church.  This was called the "Vulgate".  Perhaps this is what your friend is thinking of.

Today all literal translations of the NT are from the original Greek as even the old King James notes in its introductory pages.